James Gooden Exum Jr. also known as Jim Exum (born September 14, 1935) is an American jurist who served on the North Carolina Supreme Court from 1975 to 1994, and as chief justice from 1986 to 1994. Under his leadership, the court "expanded civil rights, took a new approach to criminal justice, and increased available remedies in tort law." Associate Justice Mark A. Davis has compared the Exum Court to the Warren Court at the federal level. Early life Exum was born in Greene County North Carolina. He was the son of Mary Well (née Bost) and James Gooden Exum. In 1953, he graduated from Snow Hill High School as class valedictorian. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a Morehead Scholar, a member of Sigma Nu fraternity, and a member of the honor societies Phi Eta Sigma and Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated with an A.B. in English in 1957. He then attended New York University School of Law, where he was a Root Tilden Scholar. He received an LL.B. in 1960. In 1961, he attended the U.S. Army Information School, becoming a captain in the Army Reserves and United States Army Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps from 1961 to 1967. In 1968, he also attended the National Judicial College. Career From 1960 to 1961, Exum clerked for Emery B. Denny, a North Carolina Supreme Court Justice. From 1961 until 1967, he worked for the law firm Smith Moore Smith Schell & Hunter in Greensboro, North Carolina. In 1966, he served in the North Carolina House of Representatives for the 26th district. He was appointed to the North Carolina Superior Court, 18th district, by Governor Daniel Killian More on July 1, 1967. In 1968, he was elected to the bench and continued in that capacity through 1974. He was elected as an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court in 1974, serving from January 1975 to 1986. In 1985, the governor did not follow the tradition of appointing the senior associate justice, Exum in this case, to the vacant position of chief justice. Exum resigned from the North Carolina Supreme Court to run against the governor's appointee in the next statewide election. In 1986, he was elected Chief Justice and served through January 1, 1995. When he retired from the bench, a newspaper noted that Exum was “known for, among other things,